I'M SORRY IT'S BEEN SO LONG. ;_; I've been thinking a lot about the plot and I've also been extremely lazy at the same time. Now that this is up I will try to work on getting the next one up as soon as possible! I've got most of the rough draft written for the next one, but I still have to think a lot about some stuff because - DUN DUN DUNNN! - we're getting close to the end! But not too close - I'm estimating at least 3 more chapters. So please hang in with me until the end! I hope you enjoy the new chapter!~

The castle seemed to have a different air to it after the passing of the King. Kurogane found that the King's subordinates, although they were trying to help him adjust, were having a hard time transitioning as well. The late King was well respected, and Kurogane knew that he would have a lot to live up to.

Both Fai and Kurogane were working a lot more than they had been in the past few months. The guards were still working overtime to make sure no intruder could enter the castle again. Kurogane had many more duties to perform as a King than he did as a Prince, and on top of that, whenever he had free time he would put his efforts into finding out more about MAGI. Still, whenever Kurogane returned to his room to retire for the night, he was somewhat surprised that Fai was still upholding his promise. Kurogane wondered how he did it.

Kurogane didn't mind the extra work. What he didn't particularly enjoy, however, was the endlessly high expectations and lack of privacy.

"My Prince—I mean, Your Majesty," Watanuki said as he entered Kurogane's room. Kurogane was so used to people coming and going whenever they pleased that he wasn't too surprised when the young guard suddenly appeared. "There's a, um, strange girl here to see you."

"Alright," Kurogane said, getting up from his desk and following Watanuki out. Normally his visitors were representatives or political figures from other kingdoms, so it was odd that a young girl was coming to visit him. He thought it would be a nice change of pace, if anything.

"Sir," Watanuki spoke up as they were walking, "are you sure you don't want to move to the King's Quarters? There's more room—and if it reminds you of your father too much—"

"That's not necessary," Kurogane replied hastily. "MAGI knows how to break into there." That was only one of the reasons Kurogane had not moved into the King's Quarters yet. Firstly, he thought he really didn't need anymore room, for all the rooms in the castle were rather large, and besides, he was used to his room. It was one thing that had stayed the same through all these recent changes. He was slightly embarrassed to say that another one of the reasons was because of Fai and their promise—he felt like each night had to be at the same place, otherwise it was invalid. It was silly, he knew, but he felt like it would be odd otherwise.

"Anyway, you said there's a strange girl here to see me? How strange?"

"She talks in third person, for one thing. She asked to see one of the guards, which is uncommon, saying she'd been looking for him all day. When we said she couldn't see him, she demanded to see you. She asked for you by name. Do you know her?"

"Doesn't sound like anyone I know," Kurogane admitted.

Watanuki shrugged. "She hardly seems like anyone dangerous," he said with a chuckle. "Maybe she's a fan of yours."

"A fan that would ask for one of the castle guards instead of me?" he retorted.

"Well—good point, your Majesty. Anyway, here we are." They stood outside the Conference Room. "We decided to keep her here. Oh, I forgot to mention—she brought a dog with her. It was extremely well trained, and calmer than her, really, so we let her keep it with her."

"Alright. Thank you." Kurogane opened the door and entered as Watanuki walked away.

Standing where Tomoyo had been last time he was in this room was a petite blonde girl. Her features were childish, although she was obviously a teenager, at least. She wore a frilly white dress and had odd cat-ear-like mechanical things on her head. Her eyes were gentle and friendly, so Kurogane thought that the mechanical things couldn't be anything dangerous or a weapon. The black dog next to her stared at him with an expression he couldn't read. Somehow, he felt like he'd seen the dog before, though he wasn't quite sure where. Probably just a stray that wanders around the market.

"You're Kurogane, right?" the girl asked, her voice high and cute.

"Show a little more respect," Kurogane retorted.

"Ah, that's right," she said, looking like she was remembering something, placing her pointer finger on her chin. "Kurogane's name is really Kuro-pon."

"Excuse me?" Kurogane exclaimed, dumbfounded. Then something clicked in his mind. I was able to see an old friend of mine today… Fai's voice echoed. "Are you a friend of Fai's?"

"Chi is Fai-chan's best friend!" the girl piped. "Chi wanted to see Fai, but the scary men said guards didn't get visitors."

His best friend, huh? Kurogane thought, and he was taken slightly aback by the twinge of jealousy he felt. He might like being around someone so positive and cheerful instead of me all the time. He might need that. Did he ask her to come here? No, she's probably here on her own free will...right? "So how have you seen Fai before now?" he asked, pushing away his insecure thoughts. "I know you have; Fai mentioned you once."

Chi didn't seem to be surprised at all that he knew. She simply tilted her head and smiled at him. "Chi snuck in!"

This sparked Kurogane's curiosity. "You found a way to sneak into the castle? How?" he demanded.

Chi pat the dog's fur absentmindedly. "Yuko-tan helped Chi."

"The witch?" Kurogane took a step forward. "What did she do?"

Chi put a finger to her lips, a playful smile stretching across them. "Chi can't tell Kuro-pon! Yuko-tan said to keep it a secret!"

Kurogane grit his teeth in frustration. "Tell me!" he said loudly, reaching out to grab her wrist. She scampered away, halfway around the table, still grinning as if this were a game. "Why you—" he growled as he moved towards her, but the dog moved in front of him. He stopped and stared at it, surprised. The dog wasn't barking or growling or trying to be intimidating. It simply stood in front of him, eyes pleading and almost human.

Please don't harm this girl, the familiar eyes seemed to say. Kurogane blinked, unsure of what to do. It was so odd that he stood still, shocked for a few moments.

"Chi can't tell you," Chi repeated. "But Yuko-tan can."

"Can she?" Kurogane asked, snapping out of his slight daze. "Alright, take me to her, then."

"Okay!" Chi beamed. "But only if Kuro-pon promises to tell Fai that Chi was here!"

Even though he knew it was ridiculous, he had a strong urge to refuse. Fai's friends with this annoying chick? Kurogane thought. Despite his annoyance, he agreed. "I promise."

Tomoyo knew what she was doing was wrong; even if it wasn't technically breaking and entering, being in someone's room without their permission was an invasion of privacy and a betrayal of trust. Still, the guards allowed me to, she thought, trying to justify it in her mind. Even if I did lie to them about why I'm here.

She stood outside of Kurogane's room awkwardly. You saw him leave, she reminded herself. It would be foolish to knock. Despite her fear of getting caught, she opened the door and quickly swept inside.

Normally, she wouldn't have done this. She'd just have asked him. But she knew how Kurogane was, and she couldn't shake the feeling that he was hiding something. She knew it was wrong to spy and pry, but she also knew he would never tell her.

I'll just take a quick peek, she thought. Just a little look, and then I'll leave right away.

Still paranoid, she decided she should first make sure no one was lurking around, so she moved toward the window. She had a feeling no one would be outside, but she needed to check, just in case. Opening it, she slowly poked her head out, and—

"Ah!" she heard herself scream along with another voice. A tall blonde man was sitting on the ground before her. Tomoyo's long black hair touched the top of his head. Feeling embarrassed, she tossed it over her shoulder quickly.

"Oh, I'm sorry miss," the blonde apologized before she had time to speak or pull away back into the room. He gave her a small smile. "I suppose I scared you, huh?"

"Its alright," Tomoyo said. "I guess I shouldn't have been surprised…although I do think having a guard outside Kurogane-kun's window is a bit much, or at least that's what he'd say…"

A flicker of realization crossed the blonde's blue eyes. "Are you Princess Tomoyo, by chance?"

"Yes, I am. And what would your name be?"

"Oh, no need. I'm just a simple guard, introductions—"

"I don't care about that stuff," Tomoyo said. "Formalities are bothersome."

"I see," the blonde said. "Call me Fai, then."

"I feel like I've heard that name before…" Tomoyo mumbled. She couldn't remember where, but she had the feeling it wasn't somewhere particularly good. Still, the blonde looked harmless, and he worked for the castle, so he couldn't have been anyone dangerous.

"Does his Majesty know you're here?"

"Er, yes," Tomoyo lied. "I need to talk to him about something, and the guards asked me to wait in his room. Does Kurogane know you're out here?"

Fai seemed to hesitate before answering. "You must think it's strange," he replied. "But I was assigned a post out here for Kur—the King's protection."

"I don't think you should push yourself. I mean," she said quickly as Fai gave her a weird look. "Kurogane-kun seems like the kind of person who wouldn't want others to risk their lives for him. He'd want to do things without another's help. I can't imagine him giving an order like this. Unless…he didn't?"

"You seem to know the King very well. I have to admit, you're right, he wouldn't want me to be out here being a meat-shield for him."

"So then why are you out here? Disobeying his orders would make him angry with you, too."

"My, you're quite sharp, aren't you, Princess?" Fai said.

Tomoyo seemed to not have heard him. She was lost in her own thoughts. "Unless," she mumbled, "you're the thing he's hiding? If I think about it, it does make sense...if he didn't order you out here...and he wouldn't want a random stranger to be out here..."

Fai appeared shocked for a moment, but hid his surprise quickly. "Princess, regardless of whether or not you care about formalities, his Majesty—"

"Doesn't either," Tomoyo interrupted. Yes, Fai-san is what he's hiding, Tomoyo thought. He's always seemed like he's had someone else on his mind when I talk to him. Kurogane-kun isn't someone to be possessive or secretive about material objects. Who else could it be?

Fai seemed to be at a loss for words. After a few moments, he said, "He trusts you, so I will trust you, too."

"Please don't misunderstand," Tomoyo said quickly. "I'm not mad or jealous, nor do I think its wrong. I can just tell sometimes when I talk to Kurogane-kun that there's someone else on his mind, and I think that if it was you, I could understand."

Tomoyo could've sworn she saw Fai blush ever so slightly.

"Regardless of what I think about him, I can never be sure what he thinks about me."

"If he didn't like you, he wouldn't let you be out here, would he?" Tomoyo said. "Now that I think about it, why are you out here?"

"A promise," Fai replied. "I promised him something that requires my presence here. That's all I can tell you."

"How sweet," she said softly.

"You seem to like him yourself," Fai said. "What do you love most about Kurogane?"

"Eh?" Tomoyo felt her cheeks grow warm. "W-well, he has many admirable qualities—but I'm afraid you're mistaken—"

"You know, if you love someone, Princess, you shouldn't ask someone else to marry you."

Tomoyo blinked. "Nothing gets past you either, Fai-san. I guess Kurogane talks about me more than I thought."

"You're a very lovely young lady."

Tomoyo giggled. "To be honest with you, I didn't ask Kurogane to marry me on a whim. I do like him, you know. My family supports it because of political reasons—apparently my kingdom would look a lot better if we're involved with Nihon. But that's not my main motive. I won't give up easily because of you." Even so, she thought, no matter how much I like Kurogane, the only person I'll ever love is Sakura.

"Chi is back, Yuko-tan!" Chi shouted happily as they entered the witch's lair. Kurogane had hoped he'd never have to see this place again, but hitsuzen apparently had other ideas.

Yuko was sprawled on her futon again, pipe in hand, mischievous smile on her lips. The smoke in the air was slightly dizzying, as it was last time. Kurogane began to wonder if all Yuko did all day was lounge around. Must be an easy life, doing nothing but having fun screwing with people's minds and drinking, he thought.

"Welcome back, Chi. It's nice to see you again, Kurogane," Yuko said, glancing at Kurogane, mischief in her eyes.

"Chi brought Kuro-tan just like Yuko-tan asked!" Chi beamed.

"What? Brought me? But I—" Comprehension dawned on him. "You sent her to fetch me, didn't you. You've never been in the castle before. You just knew how to bait me."

Yuko grinned her Cheshire grin. "Now, Kurogane, don't be angry. I needed you to come out here somehow, and you know as well as I do that you wouldn't if I asked."

"Tch," was all Kurogane could think of to say in reply. "What do you want, witch?"

Yuko set down her pipe but did not move from the futon. "Chi brought you here on the condition that I'd answer your question. I don't intend to break my promises."

Kurogane felt like every moment he spent with the witch would increase his frustration. Even so, if she had answers, he wasn't willing to pass them up. "My question was about how you snuck into the castle. But you've never snuck in, have you?"

"No, I haven't. But I'm not stupid, either. Sneaking into a castle is a very easy thing to do with magic."

"Are you saying that's how MAGI broke in?" Kurogane asked, thinking maybe that coming here wasn't a waste after all.

"I never mentioned MAGI," Yuko said, "but since you bring it up, no, MAGI did not use magic to break in."

"Then how did they get in?"

"Luck, mostly. The window could've been thicker."

"They just broke the window? An elite magic group didn't use magic? And where were the guards?"

"Knocked out by an enchantment, I suppose."

"I thought you said—"

"They didn't use magic to infiltrate, exactly, although they were aided by a simple sleeping spell."

"If you know all this, then you must know a lot about their plans and strategies. Are they coming back?"

"Your question was how someone would break into the castle. I allowed you one question."

"Don't' play games! I'm not screwing around!" Kurogane yelled, taking a step closer to Yuko. "If you know, witch, tell me!"

"Don't ask questions you already know the answer to."

Kurogane held his glare, clenching his fists.

Yuko picked the pipe up again and spoke without taking a puff. "Now, let me tell you why you're here. I need you to deliver something for me."

"And what would that be?" he inquired, crossing his arms. Yuko had given him some information, but nothing too useful. Coming here really was a waste after all; she'd played him into the palm of her hand, tempting him with pointless clues.

Yuko flipped a note out from what seemed like nowhere. "This."

"I'm not a mail man," Kurogane protested, furrowing his brows. "I'm busy, get someone else to do it."

"This is for Fai. Its important that you give it to him. Before you do, however, I need you to promise me that you won't look at the contents inside."

"You can't be sure I won't look at it." Kurogane eyed her suspiciously. "Why not have Fai come here and get it?"

"If he was here, I could simply tell him what I have written here. Besides, the note is a…test, if you will."

"Test?"

"Tell me, Kurogane," drawled the witch. "Who is more important to you, Tomoyo or Fai?"

"It doesn't concern you," he snapped.

"On the contrary, it concerns me greatly. If you don't tell me, Kurogane, I can't let you leave."

"Fine," he growled. "Fai is more important to me. Fai will always be the most important. But I've thought it over, and it's highly unlikely that he's the right choice in 'Queen.'" He snatched the note from her and stormed out, the note clutched tightly in his fist.

"Such a stubborn boy," Yuko said to no one in particular. "Looks like I have to push him even further."

"Kuro-pii seems like he's in a bad mood," Fai remarked teasingly as Kurogane poked his head out the window. "Although I suppose that's nothing new."

"It's getting colder out," Kurogane said. Little flurries fell from the sky, a pure white contrast to the starless dark sky. "Remember, I'm not forcing you to do this."

"I'll be fine. There's only about 15 more days left anyway." Fai said, his tone intending to sound reassuring. An awkward silence fell over them. Only 15 more days, and then what? Kurogane thought. Many things had happened in the months since they first made the promise. Circumstances had changed. Kurogane had changed. Could he still keep his promise? Back then it was a silly, naïve, frivolous thing, in a time when he had few responsibilities. Now it was a choice that might affect the rest of his life.

Kurogane cleared his throat. "The witch wanted me to give this to you," he said, handing the note to Fai. He watched Fai's eyes move across the paper once, widening slightly. "What is it?"

"Oh, well—you haven't read it?" asked Fai.

"She made me promise not to. Something only for your eyes, I guess. Is everything alright?"

"Yes, everything's fine," Fai said, giving him a small, delicate smile as he tucked the note away. This smile is fake, he thought. Fai's real smile was always so kind, Kurogane wondered what gave him the energy and strength to put on a genuine smile for him everyday. Kurogane had been able to tell between Fai's fake and real smiles a lot more lately, and he observed that Fai's true smiles always held an extra warmth to them, an added brightness. Does he give that girl that kind of warm smile too?

Kurogane was intensely curious about the note, but he decided not to pry. Part of it was because he didn't want the witch to win, and another part was because he felt that if Fai wanted to tell him, he would.

"I've been doing this for so long," Fai said suddenly. "Coming out here has become second nature. Like its simply a place where I get to see you, like it has nothing to do with a goal or a promise. I think I've taken being able to talk to you like this for granted. I've told myself time and time again that if you choose Tomoyo it'll be okay…but I'm sitting here for you. I'm waiting all these days for you. I don't know if I can give you up so easily."

When he says things like that, it makes it harder for me to push him away, Kurogane thought, frustrated. "Things…change."

Something flickered in Fai's eyes, but it passed before Kurogane had a chance to tell what it was. "Tomoyo asked you to marry her. That's the only thing that's changed. Have you decided yet?"

"No," Kurogane admitted. He weighed the pros and cons countless times, but his heart and his head never wanted to agree. "Not yet."

"You can't put it off forever. I hate to do this, but...I'll give you fifteen days, the rest of our days in our promise. I'll give you that long to choose between me and Tomoyo."

That day...that night...

Temptation tempted the temptresses.

And there you have it! Lots more happened this time. I hope the scene where Tomoyo meets Fai helped you visualize just how high up the window is since I fail at describing it. Also, I don't know why, but Chi's character is one of the harder ones to write. Yuko, however, comes more naturally to me. xD Its probably because I haven't read Chobits in a while. So I apologize if Chi is OCC. For those of you getting angry at Kurogane, don't worry, you will only continue to get angry at him. 8D When Kurogane said "Something only for your eyes, I guess" the inner fangirl in me wanted to right YOUR BEAUTIFUL BABY BLUE EYES THAT ARE JUST SO HNNG WHY DID YOU LOSE ONE but then my inner editor shot my inner fangirl in the face very quickly. (can you tell I'm tired and crazy right now?)

The contents of the mysterious note will be revealed next chapter! But don't get super excited, its a really short note. xD